Examining Impact of Islamic Work Ethic on Task Performance: Mediating Effect of Psychological Capital and a Moderating Role of Ethical Leadership

The twenty-first century has seen an increase in ethical misconduct at the workplace, highlighting the need to stimulate discussion on the role of work ethics. The objective of the current study is to extend the literature on work ethics by examining the role of Islamic work ethic in enhancing the task performance of employees. The current study proposes that psychological capital mediates the relationship between Islamic work ethic and task performance. It is also proposed that ethical leadership might act as a boundary condition that boosts the positive relationship between Islamic work ethic and psychological capital. Data were collected in three-time lags from employees working in the service sector of Pakistan (N?=?218) through the questionnaire. The results supported the mediation and moderation hypothesis, confirming that psychological capital mediates the relationship between Islamic work ethic and task performance. Ethical leadership moderates the relationship between Islamic work ethic and psychological capital. The results offer implications for theory and practice. Limitations and future research directions are also discussed.

     

Investment Committee,Corporate Cash Holdings and Corporate Life Cycle

We investigate the association between voluntary formation of board investment committee (IC) and corporate cash holdings of nonfinancial firms over the corporate life cycle stages for a large sample of Gulf Cooperation Council firms during 2005–2016. We find that IC increases corporate cash holdings in growth and maturity stages of firm, compared to introduction, shake‐out, and decline stages. These results have important implications for investors, policy makers, and regulators. Our findings are robust to various econometrics specifications.     

Underemployment in Australia: a panel investigation

This 2001–2013 panel study finds 33% of part-time employees to be underemployed, disproportionately affecting males, immigrants, youth, the blue-collared and new to our study, those on casual contracts. Within the underemployed sample, we report that the gap between preferred and actual hours (working hour tension) also varies by personal and labour characteristics, largely consistent with that found for the determinants of underemployment. The continued growth of part-time employment and casualization in recent years has been more pronounced among males, raising their rates of underemployment as they disproportionately prefer to work more hours vis-à-vis their part-time female peers.     

Socio-emotional wealth and corporate responses to environmental hostility: Are family firms more stakeholder oriented?

Do family firms care more for different stakeholders than nonfamily firms when operating in a hostile business environment? This study addresses this question and fills the existing void in family business research. It shows that family-controlled firms adopt corporate social responsibility strategies and balance the demands of internal and external interest groups to preserve their socio-emotional wealth while facing fierce competition, resource scarcity, and penurious economic conditions. More specifically, our analysis of an international sample of 956 listed firms from 2006 to 2014 reveals that family firms show a higher level of corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance and better stakeholder orientation than nonfamily firms. Our findings are useful for managers, policymakers, and responsible investors.     

Overall survival,costs, and healthcare resource use by line of therapy in Medicare patients with newly diagnosed metastatic urothelial carcinoma

Aims: Medicare patients with metastatic or surgically unresectable urothelial carcinoma (mUC) often receive platinum-based chemotherapy as first line of therapy (LOT), but invariably progress, requiring additional LOTs and healthcare resource use (HCRU). To better understand the evolving mUC treatment landscape, the economic burden of chemotherapy-based mUC treatments among US Medicare patients was estimated.

Methods: Newly diagnosed Medicare patients with mUC were identified from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER)-Medicare database. Patients were followed from diagnosis to death, disenrollment, or end of study to characterize LOTs (first [LOT1], second [LOT2], and third or greater [LOT3+]). Kaplan-Meier methods were used to estimate overall survival (OS) by LOT. HCRU and mean costs were reported over the follow-up period, LOT duration, and maximum LOT received.

Results: Among 1,873 eligible patients with mUC (median age?=?77?years; median follow-up?=?7.5?months), 1,035 (55%) received no chemotherapy. Among chemotherapy-treated patients, 61% had LOT1 only, 25% had LOT1 and LOT2 only, and 14% had LOT3+. Median OS was 8.1?months, range was 4.3 (untreated) to 29.8 (LOT3+) months. HCRU frequency increased with additional LOTs. Mean cumulative per-patient cost was $82,912 for all patients, increasing with additional LOTs (untreated?=?$57,207; LOT1?=?$99,213; LOT2?=?$125,190; LOT3+?=?$163,884). Mean per patient per month cost was $18,827 for all patients, decreasing with increasing number of LOTs received (untreated?=?$27,211; LOT1?=?$9,601; LOT2?=?$7,325; LOT3+?=?$6,017).

Limitations: Potential for treatment misclassification when using the algorithm defining LOTs and non-generalizability of results to younger patients.

Conclusions: Over 50% of Medicare patients with mUC received no chemotherapy. Among chemotherapy-treated patients, most received only one LOT. Additional LOTs led to higher mean costs and HCRU, but as patients were followed longer, monthly costs decreased. As treatments evolve to include immuno-oncology agents, these findings provide a clinically relevant economic benchmark for mUC treatment across different traditional LOTs.     

Trust and the tendency towards multi-unit franchising: A relational governance view

Previous research mainly focused on the agency-theoretical explanation of multi-unit franchising (MUF). The aim of this study is to develop a relational governance perspective of MUF by investigating the role of knowledge-based trust and general trust in franchisor's choice between multi-unit and single-unit franchising. Our data from the German franchise sector indicate that knowledge-based trust positively influences and general trust negatively influences the franchisor's tendency towards multi-unit franchising.     

An Investigation of Market Orientation (MO) and Tourism Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises’ (SMEs) Performance in Developing Countries: A Review of the Literature

This paper aims to build a structured literature review of the field of market orientation and its impact on tourism small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) performance in developing countries. This literature review will present a comprehensive survey of market orientation (MO) published articles to facilitate good understanding of MO. It serves as an archive and aims to help the scholars and practitioners to explore, analyse, and develop a clear understanding about the different research points and methodologies implemented in previous studies related to MO and its impact on tourism SMEs’ performance. The paper systematically reviews and categorizes the published literature implementing a three-stage methodology, and thereafter analyzes and reviews this literature methodologically. The review covered many areas and identified some factors that drive/hinder market-oriented activities within tourism SMEs. Furthermore, suggestions have been made to understand more thoroughly how market orientation influences tourism SMEs performance in developing economies. A research gap in the area of market orientation and tourism SMEs performance in developing countries was identified. The study provides great benefits for owner-managers, government policy makers, scholars, and educators by clarifying the concept of market orientation and its relationship with performance in the context of tourism SMEs.     

Integrating Factors Influencing Consumers’ Halal Products Purchase: Application of Theory of Reasoned Action

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this research is to determine Muslim consumers’ purchase perceptions of Halal products in Pakistan. The research team has integrated different factors such as processing, Halal logo, ingredients, health consciousness, perceived value, food safety concern, and religious factor with Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), and they investigated their influence on consumers’ attitudes and intentions to purchase Halal food products. A survey was conducted in Islamabad and Rawalpindi city, Pakistan. A total of 282 (56.4%) completed questionnaires were received from 500 respondents. Structural equation modeling technique was used to determine consumers’ purchase intention and behavior regarding Halal products. Except for health consciousness and Halal logo, all factors positively influence consumers’ attitude and purchase intention of Halal food products and, subsequently, their purchase behavior.     

Global Financial Crisis: An African Perspective

This paper reviews the expanding financial turmoil that has been triggered by the Asian crisis. It examines the factors behind the crisis, its impact on African countries and the main lessons and policy implications for African countries. The onset of the Asian crisis seems to have taken everybody by surprise because the Asian countries that were hit by the crisis had been among the most successful in sustaining high rates of economic growth, keeping high saving and investment rates and improving the quality of life of their citizens. However, the emerging consensus is that the Asian crisis is a hybrid of structural and policy distortions (macro- and micro-economic) in the affected economies. The impact of the crisis on African countries was mainly transmitted through declines in export prices and volumes. The low demand for primary commodities induced by the crisis and the large depreciation of Asian currencies appear to have played major roles in depressing commodity prices. With only a few exceptions, the commodities that suffered large price declines are those for which Asia constitutes an important market (e.g. oil) and/or those mostly supplied by Asian countries (e.g. copper, timber and rubber). Africa’s oil-exporting countries, which experienced large deterioration in their terms of trade, were the most affected. For the continent as a whole, export proceeds declined by 9.5 per cent between 1997 and 1998. This was the product of a 7 per cent decline in export prices and a 2.5 per cent decline in the volume of exports. The paper estimates that the crisis has caused the growth rate in the region to slide down by 1.2 percentage points, which indicates a loss of US $6.2 billion using aggregate GDP for 1997 as the base. To put this in an order of magnitude, it is about US $2 billion higher than the annual average flow of FDI to the continent in recent years. For the majority of African countries where the inflow of private capital is small and where public debt is dominant, the traditional risk management policies, such as adopting realistic exchange rates and reducing government deficits and inflation rates, should continue to be major policy tools to prevent financial crisis. However, as the role of private capital increases the design of macroeconomic policies would need to heed the lessons emerging from Asia. One basic lesson is that careful sequencing of domestic and external liberalization is needed. In that, restrictions on the capital account, especially on the more volatile capital flows should be lifted only after the domestic financial sector has been strengthened with adequate regulatory and supervisory institutions. This is particularly true because the Asian crisis has shown that reserves, even at very high levels, can be quickly depleted given the scale and volatility of short-term capital flows. Le présent document analyse le développement de la tourmente financière déclenchée par la crise asiatique. Il examine les causes de cette crise, son impact sur les pays africains, les principaux enseignements à en tirer et ses incidences politiques pour l’Afrique. Le déclenchement de la crise asiatique semble avoir pris tout le monde de court. Les pays asiatiques touchés sont parmi ceux qui avaient enregistré des taux de croissance économique des plus élevés, maintenu des taux d’épargne et d’investissement des plus soutenus, et amélioré le plus la qualité de vie de leurs citoyens. Cependant, de l’avis général, la crise asiatique résulte de la conjonction de distorsions d’ordre structurels et politiques (macro et micro économiques) dans les pays touchés. Son impact sur les pays africains a été principalement ressenti é; travers la baisse des prix et du volume des exportations. Le fléchissement de la demande des produits de base et la forte dépréciation des monnaies asiatiques provoqués par la crise ont manifestement joué un rôle déterminant dans la chute des cours des produits de base. A quelques exceptions près, les produits dont les prix ont sensiblement baissé sont ceux pour lesquels l’Asie constitue un important marché (par exemple le pétrole) et/ ou ceux qui sont essentiellement fournis par les pays asiatiques (cuivre, bois, caoutchouc). Les pays africains exportateurs de pétrole, qui ont subi une détérioration marquée de leurs termes de l’échange, ont été les plus touchés. Pour l’ensemble du continent, les recettes d’exportation ont baissé de 9,5 pour cent entre 1997 et 1998. Cette situation résulte de la baisse de 7 pour cent des prix et de la contraction de 2,5 pour cent du volume des exportations. Ce document estime que la crise a entraîné un ralentissement de croissance de 1,2 point de pourcentage, soit une perte de 6,2 milliards de dollars EU, si l’on utilise comme base le PIB global de 1997. Traduit en ordre de grandeur, ce chiffre est d’environ 2 milliards de dollars supérieur au montant des flux moyens annuels d’IDE obtenus par le continent au cours de ces dernières années. Pour la majorité des Etats africains oú l’apport de capitaux privés est faible, et la dette publique écrasante, les politiques traditionnelles de gestion de risque, comme l’adoption de taux de change réalistes et la réduction des déficits publics et du taux d’inflation, doivent demeurer les principaux moyens d’action pour prévenir les crises financières. Cependant, à mesure qu’augmente le rôle des capitaux privés, la conception des politiques macroéconomiques devrait tenir compte des leçons qui se dégagent de l’expérience asiatique. La principale leçon est qu’il faut faire preuve de prudence dans la programmation de la libéralisation interne et externe. Dans cet esprit, la restriction des mouvements des capitaux, notamment ceux de capitaux les plus volatiles, ne doit être levée qu’après la consolidation du secteur financier au niveau interne avec le concours d’institutions compétentes de réglementation et de contrôle. Cette précaution est d’autant plus nécessaire que la crise asiatique a démontré que les réserves, même à des niveaux très élevés, peuvent s’épuiser rapidement du fait de l’ampleur et de la volatilité des flux des capitaux à court terme.     

Typologies of Banner Advertisements’ Attributes: A Content Analysis

The web has received significant amount of attention from advertising and consumer researchers investigating the impact of banner advertisement on consumers’ psychological and behavioral responses. However, no typology of banner advertisement has been identified yet, and the selection of banner advertisements as advertising stimuli has been carried out on the premise of personal judgment rather than scientific methodology. The identification of typology is important because different banner advertisement, such as static and pop-up, elicit different consumers’ responses. In addition the identification of a typology constitutes an advance to mid-range theory in a research domain. Hence, the purpose of this research is to identify the typologies of banner advertisements’ attributes such as type, number, shape, location, and size using content analysis. Specifically, nine banner advertisement types are identified as well as the typology of number, shape, location, and size of banner advertisements. Contributions of the research are discussed.